Israeli Lt. Col. Peter Lerner claimed Israel killed a top Hamas commander in an air strike Saturday night.
Lerner claimed that Hamas Commander Billal Al Kedra was killed in an airstrike during an interview Sunday on ABC's This Week. The death of Al Kedra comes after the terrorist group launched an attack against Israel over a week ago.
ISRAEL WAR: US TO EVACUATE STRANDED AMERICANS BY SEA AS CONFLICT ESCALATES
“We will strike Hamas from the top through its institutions, all the way down to the individuals that conducted the butchery of our babies. We did not ask for this war, but we will win it,” Israeli Defense Forces' Peter Lerner tells @MarthaRaddatz. https://t.co/CnG5kjn7M7 pic.twitter.com/JkDt7Dddwt
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 15, 2023
The Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Securities Authority also released an official statement on Al Kedra's death.
"Following ISA intelligence, IDF fighter jets operated in the Gaza Strip and killed Billal Al Kedra last night, the Nukhba commander of the forces in southern Khan Yunis, who was responsible for the Kibbutz Nirim massacre. Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror operatives were also killed,” the joint announcement said via Politico.
Al Kedra led the attack on Kibbutz Nirim, an agriculture community near the Gaza-Israel border, on Oct. 7. The Hamas attacks are the largest assault against Jewish people since the Holocaust.
“We will strike Hamas from the top through its institutions all the way down to the individuals that conducted the butchering of our babies," Lerner said. "We did not ask for this war, but we will win it.”
Lerner also warned Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group, to consider the consequences of entering the war. National security officials in Israel and the United States have expressed concern that the war in Israel will open the conflict to other fronts.
"I would highly recommend that Hezbollah watch very closely what is happening to Hamas and their organization in Gaza as we speak,” Lerner said. “If they have, they should be very cautious of crossing that threshold because we are determined to defend the state of Israel.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
So far, the death toll has surpassed over 3,600 people on both the Gaza and Israeli sides. Among the dead are also 29 Americans, with 15 U.S. citizens still missing or unaccounted for, according to the State Department. The U.S. Embassy in Israel announced Sunday that it will plan to evacuate Americans by sea on Monday morning.
The Israeli government ordered a "total siege" of Gaza last week, cutting off its population of nearly 2 million from access to electricity, food, and fuel. However, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that he was informed this morning that Israel has restored water service in southern Gaza.